


you make my heart go boom

by Paradelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Puns, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cussing, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Misunderstandings, No Smut, Pining Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) is Missing, Trans Keith (Voltron), an uncomfortable amount of puns, takes place sometime between season 2 and 3, this story is the second most self-indulgent thing ive ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 07:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradelle/pseuds/Paradelle
Summary: On a mission gone wrong, Lance gets captured by the Galra.  Now, Keith must save Lance on a dangerous rescue mission, while dealing with Lance's insatiable need for making bad puns.





	you make my heart go boom

The rescue mission was going to shit at record speed. The Galra knew exactly where they were and were closing in, and contact with the rest of the team was completely severed, as if something was botching up their communication devices.

Luckily, Keith had found Lance, alone and in a room guarded by two Galra. Even if Keith had taken out the guards effortlessly, the Galra were still one step ahead. Soldiers advanced on to the room from either side, their feet stomping and echoing against the metal menacingly. Keith saved them time by sealing the doors, however the trap was already set into motion.

A large mechanism was strapped tightly around Lance’s chest, clamps and wires molding around his body in an alarming way. Lance, with sweat drenching his hair and body rigid where he lay, smiled nervously. Keith ran to his side to help him up, but Lance objected, shaking his head no.

“It’s a bomb, a trap, to keep you here,” Lance uttered, shaking in trepidation.

Removing the bomb would cause it to detonate prematurely, or so the Galra had told Lance. Too much motion, like getting up and walking around, would also set it off. Soon, the Galra would swarm the room and either kill or capture them both. Neither options sounded appealing. Looking at the odds, the only way out of this situation was to use his wits and defuse the bomb from the inside. Slowly, and cautiously, Keith began to pry the bomb open.

"Keith, buddy,” Lance hummed out, however careful not to move a muscle, “This seems to have taken an explosive outcome."

Lance, not now, Keith thought while he scrutinized the inner workings of the alien bomb. The crude entanglement of wires offered no indication to how one would disable it. There had been lessons and lectures on dealing with bombs and other explosive devices when he attended the garrison, but none compared to the other-worldly tech this one presented.

While Keith’s face wore a furrowed and intense scowl, Lance smirked playfully with one brow raised high.

"Keith, hey Keith. I think I really blew this one."

"Lance, shut up, shut up! You’re literally about to explode,” Keith grumbled out exasperatedly then regained his composure to continue fiddling with the bomb. Outside, they heard barking of Galra orders as they tested the doors.

Lance snickered—making light of his situation, probably—then sputtered, "C’mon, Keith! Don’t have such a short fuse.”

Keith’s attention went from the bomb to the door. He was running out of time and he still didn’t know where to start. Quiznak, he wished Pidge was there with him. She’d already be hacking away into the Galra mainframe and saving the day, as she always does. Or Hunk, who’d probably take one look at the bomb and rewire it into something less explosive. Not for the first time, Keith had no idea what to do. Closing his eyes, he thought of Shiro. _What would he do?_ He had to be patient, had to focus. Shiro would tell him to use that brain of his, to believe he could do it. He sighed, wishing, longing for Shiro to guide him like he always had.

"Hey man,” Lance was speaking softer now, a twinge his voice and a glossiness to his eyes, “you should get out of here. Voltron could barely afford losing one paladin, losing three would blow.”

Keith faltered, breathe hitching and hands shaking as he tampered with the bomb. Shiro or no, Keith was not leaving without Lance, no matter what, even if Lance was aggravating him with his unrelenting puns.

“I’m not leaving you, Lance. We’re a team, and we’ll get out of this one, trust me.” One wrong move, one screw up, and they would both be a pile of blood and ash. Patience, focus, patience.

Lance’s character changed again, and he smirked. A playful gleam sparked in his sea blue eyes. Being this close, Keith had never realized how stunning his eyes were.

“You know, Keith, I love your explosive personality. I love your hotheadedness, and when I egg you on and you blow up at me,” Lance gushed, but didn’t stop there, “I’d never admit under normal circumstances, but I think you’re the most talented, mind-blowing person I’ve ever met, and I’ve had a blast with you, I want you to know that.”

It sounded like a confession, his words genuine—even if they were atrocious puns. But it also sounded like Lance was saying goodbye, as if he was getting his last words off his chest. Keith glared hopelessly at the bomb and at Lance, and he sighed. He couldn’t do this, and he knew that. Lance knew that. Time was running out for both of them.

“Lance… what are you saying?”

Lance looked away, avoiding eye contact, then welled up, “Keith, I love—“ 

“—can we talk about this when there’s not a bomb strapped on to you?” Keith pleaded, hands clenching as tore his gaze away.

“Oh… yeah, but—“

Broken up static cut off Lance from finishing. Barely audible words came in from Keith’s discarded helmet. Clambering to his helmet and shoving it on, Keith listened eagerly.

“Hey—guys—hear me?” The distinct voice of the green paladin spoke on the other end. He heaved a sigh so loud the Galra could have heard.

“Pidge! Can you hear me? We need help, the Galra are closing in and Lance has a bomb strapped to his chest and I don’t know what to do—where are you?” he cried into the speaker, praying for her to answer. Instead of Pidge, he received the voice of Hunk.

“I told you it would work if we adjusted the dimension of that communication thingy past the limit to bypass—“

“—Hunk, I get it,” Pidge interrupted, sounding irritated, “but there’s a more pressing issue right now. Keith, I’m tracking your coordinates, but while I do that, I need you to tell me about that bomb.”

Keith conveyed the details of the bomb to Pidge, who nodded along thoughtfully, gears going in her head. He could hear Hunk starting to babble fretfully in the background, uttering words like “this is bad!” and “OMG”.

“Can’t you just hack into the bomb already so we all don’t go kablooey?” Lance piped up.

“It doesn’t work like that.” There was a pause before Pidge continued. “But I can probably hack into the list of Galra artillery. From there, I can guide you into disabling the bomb you described to me, while Hunk moves his butt and stops freaking out!”

“Hurry up, there isn’t much time!” Lance shrieked as a molten weapon pierced through the door and began to gradually slice it open, melted metal oozing to the floor.

Keith brought his attention back to the bomb. Despite how intimidating it looked, he now felt at ease with Pidge by his side, figuratively. She began to drill him with questions.

“Okay, uh, are there any purple wires?”

Keith reached into the bomb and began to tug on a wire, “Yeah, one.”

“Whatever you do, don’t break that one,” Pidge commanded, and Keith shot back his hand like he’d been burnt.

“On the right side there are three small buttons. Usually these types of bombs have a unique code for quick disabling, but because we don’t know the code, we’re going to have to wing it. Hold down all of the buttons.”

Without hesitation, Keith slammed his fist onto the panel with the small, black buttons.

“Now break the purple wire.”

Keith reeled, then yelled into his helmet, “I thought you said not to break that one!” The Galra were almost through the door. He could hear them readying their weapons, and soon they’d be captured.

“I said not to break that one _at that moment_.”

“You so did not say that,” Lance mumbled.

“Fucking hell! Just, ignore what I said, break it now!”

Keith swiped his knife over the wire and snapped it in half. No enormous explosion, no red and blue stain marks on the wall. Keith removed his hand from the buttons.

They waited a tick, the only sound being the Galra soldiers barking outside. Then the bomb started whirring, beeping wildly as if struggling to stay alive. Then it sputtered, defused, and unlatched from Lance’s chest with a _clank_!

“Did it work?” sounded a hesitant Pidge from the speaker.

“Heck yeah!” Lance shouted joyfully as he sprung to his feet, “Jeez, it feels good to be alive and not dead.”

Suddenly, the entrance fell forward, pushed down by swarms of Galra soldiers who were piling in, guns raised and poised to attack. Keith unsheathed his bayard. Lance—having been just reunited with his own weapon—aimed his gun.

“Ready, cowboy?”

“Only if you are.” Keith charged at the first soldier, swiping diagonally, and severed their body in two.

Lance aimed carefully, taking out the soldiers flanking Keith and never missing his mark. They worked as an unstoppable team, and together, they took out several soldiers. In spite of this, the enemy kept swarming the room by waves, each time bringing in more reinforcements. Keith, breathing laboriously while he dodged blasts and destroyed the soldiers, soon realized that they couldn’t keep this up for long. Their only hope was Pidge and the rest, trusting that they would come to their rescue before it was too late.

“Keith, watch out!” Lance alerted Keith. Caught unaware, one of the Galra blasted Keith in the back, propelling him into a wall several feet away. Lance immediately rushed to his side, defending his life while he got back onto his feet.

Looking worse for wear, they stood side by side, ready to take on whatever was thrown at them next.

“Watch out, coming through!” Hunk hollered through their helmets. Simultaneously, Keith and Lance stared wide-eyed at each other, then hurdled out of the way as the Yellow Lion’s head ruptured the ship walls and crushed some of the soldiers to pancake size.

“Your ride’s here. No, no need to thank me,” Hunk said, bounding out of the lions mouth while heavy lifting his massive gun.

“Hunk,” Lance said while bounding over to him, taking out a few soldiers on the way, “I could kiss you right now!”

“Please don’t, man.”

The three of them piled into the lion and hurried away from the Galra ship without delay.

 

Back at the castle, everyone waited for Lance with a grand celebratory feast, smiling and eager to talk to him.

“We’re so glad you’re back, man,” Hunk choked out. Tearing up a little, he put a finger to his eye.

“Good to see you with all your limbs intact,” Pidge commented, punching him in the arm.

Coran was sobbing. He lifted Lance off his feet in a squeezing hug and cried out, “I’m so glad my favorite paladin is okay!”

“He’s your favorite?” Pidge feigned offense. Coran put Lance down—who was leaning over wheezing for air—and shrugged, winding his mustache.

Allura ran over to hug Lance, whose face reddened, but he accepted it nonetheless.

“I am relieved to see you, Lance. I don’t know what Voltron would have done without you,” she said whole-heartedly while embracing Lance in a close hug, her head buried into his shoulder.

“Aw, princess, I knew you just couldn’t stay away from me, I’m too irresistible” he flirtatiously remarked, which received a glare and shoved his shoulder.

“Aaaaand you ruined the moment.”

Lance rubbed his shoulder, and eyeballed the room. The only person missing from the reunion was Keith. He sighed, and figured he must be in the black lion’s hanger, like he always is. Lance needed to talk to Keith about earlier, just to clear the room.

Lance watched his friends enjoy themselves, free of stress more than they have ever been since Shiro disappeared, and he smiled, then excused himself.

“Thanks for the food, Hunk. Probably the best you’ve ever made it. Er, you too, Coran, an effort was made.” Hunk beamed proudly, giving Lance two thumbs up. Coran pursed his lips and gave a low harrumph. “I think I’m going to call it a night. I’m glad to be back, but all I need right now is some shuteye.”

They all said their goodnights before going their separate ways. Lance did not go to the hanger straight away. Wandering the castle halls, he let his hand brush up against the side of the hallway wall. The only sound to be heard was the echo of his feet in the long, empty corridors. It was too lonely on the ship, Lance decided. He imagined how lively it used to be, when Alteans and other aliens alike wandered the same halls. Lance wondered if the castle felt lonely, too, empty of the liveliness that used to be.

Eventually his wandering led him to the hanger doors. He lingered a moment, contemplating what he would even begin to say. He’d never exactly been the most eloquent unless he was being cool and flirty, but he knew that he couldn’t hide from this conversation forever. He had practically confessed his feelings for Keith, who obviously shut him down. How did he always get himself into these messes?

“Hey Keith, man, good to see you,” he talked to himself, finger gunning the wall, “So about earlier, yeah, let’s just agree to just forget all that stuff, cool? Cool, good talk, see you around, pal.”

He groaned and thumped his head against the door.

And stumbled forward face first when it suddenly opened. Keith stood there, eyes puffy and gawking as Lance tripped into Keith. Keith’s reflexes were quick and his arms flawlessly toned.

“So,” Keith started, supporting Lance in his arms, who had a large sheepish grin on his reddening face, “this is convenient. I had wanted to talk to you.”

“Tell me about it.” Lance sprung up, grinning and embarrassed as he pretended to play it off casually.

“About earlier, I, uh…” Keith began, trailing off, as if not knowing where to start. Lance realized what he was trying to say, and decided to end the conversation quickly before he’d get his heart broken first.

“Hey, I get it. I don’t want things to get weird between us either. I just, I said some things that I shouldn’t have. It was wrong to put that on you, and if, if you want to stop talking about it, pretend like it never happened, then I understand. It was stupid of me to even bring that up.”

He took a step back, dejected. A part of him felt relieved, proud of himself for saying what needed to be said. The other part of him was utterly devastated. He could lose Keith, both as a friend and as potential for something else. He knew Keith didn’t feel the same way, he knew Keith hated him, and now he probably hated him even more now that—

Lance’s thoughts were interrupted when Keith’s lips were pressed to his, forced into an embrace as Keith put one death grip around Lance’s wrist and another hand behind his back, compelling him closer. Lance’s eyes were wide with shock, while Keith’s eyes were pressed tightly shut.

Lance was frozen still, at a loss of what to do. Not a single word in the galaxy could describe what he was feeling. Fireworks were going off in his head, senses going haywire as Keith, actual Keith fucking Kogane was passionately kissing him in the middle of fucking space, and Lance couldn’t even fucking move.

Keith pulled away as Lance was mentally kicking himself. They stared into each other’s eyes. Keith’s were a beautiful dark shade, almost purple in tint, as he looked intently at Lance waiting for a reaction.

Lance cleared his throat, then cleared it again, then said, “So, boys, huh?” _Stupid._

Keith was taken back, then replied, “You didn’t know? I guess it’s never come up, but I’ve always preferred men over women, but that doesn’t change who I am.”

“I know how you feel. I mean, I likes girls a lot, but I like boys too. And… I like you.”

“Yeah,” Keith smiled reassuringly, reaching for his hand, this time being gentle as his fingers interlocked with Lance’s. “I’ve been wanting to bring up how I’ve felt, but I never knew when. To me, the place, the time, it was never right. And then, when we thought our words would be our last, I still couldn’t do it. Now, I realize that I can’t keep avoiding… this thing that we have. I don’t hate you, Lance. No, quite the opposite.”

“Oh.” Now Lance really felt like an idiot.

They walked like that back to their rooms, side by side, hands holding tight as if they would fall apart if they let go. Going back the same way he had come from, Lance decided that it was considerably less lonely in the empty castle with someone by your side. They moved in pleasant silence, content to keep going forever, until Keith piped up with a gibe in his voice.

“Hey Lance.”

“Uhh, what?”

“You’re the bomb.”

Lance pushed his shoulder into Keith’s playfully, who was laughing loud enough for the rest of the castle to hear. He was very proud of Keith for that one, Lance chuckled to himself.

“Oh, shut up. I hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” Keith affirmed.

Finally, they arrived in front of Keith’s room. In almost silent agreement, they both sauntered into the room, took off their shoes, and fell into a warm, entangled heap on the bed. Lance beamed at Keith, who was snuggling into Lance’s chest, content to be cuddled intimately. They stayed like that for a while, cuddling on Keith’s bed closely, until they both drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a comment on what you thought of the story, so I can print it out and eat it for nutrients.
> 
> You can find me through tumblr at [mostlybrains](http://mostlybrains.tumblr.com/).


End file.
